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Choosing the story type, format and style

A children’s story, an educational one, a story for adults or a memoir; how many pages it has and how it is drawn.

Create my story

These are the first questions on the /create form, in this order: type, theme, format, personal touch and style. Everything is picked from cards.

The four story types

  • Narrative: children’s stories about adventure, magic, feelings or bedtime.
  • Educational: the story carries something to learn, with pages for the learning goals, what was learned and questions to talk about together.
  • Adults: a story to give a grown-up, in genres like romantic, nostalgic or humorous.
  • Memoir: your journal, your trip or a true story, told in your own words.
“What type of story do you want to create?” with the Narrative, Educational, Adults and Memoir cards

The theme

Each type has its own themes: 26 for narrative stories (adventures, princesses, dinosaurs, fears, Christmas, sports…), 10 genres for adults and 7 kinds of memory for memoirs. The theme steers the story, but what makes it yours is what you write in the idea step.

Narrative story themes on cuentosIA, such as Adventures, Princesses, Dinosaurs and Bedtime

Educational: free learning or school curriculum

For an educational story you first choose how: Free learning, with 10 areas such as reading comprehension, everyday math or emotional education, or Official school curriculum, which follows the curriculum by country, grade, subject and topic. The curriculum option is in beta and for now only has the Spanish-language curricula of Spain, Mexico and Chile, so for a story in English, Free learning is the one to pick.

Later, in the idea step, you say what you want them to learn and how you would like the story to teach it.

“What type of educational story do you want?” with Free learning and Official school curriculum

Book type and number of pages

The book type sets the font size and the age it is made for: Micro Story (ages 0 to 3, giant font), Mini Story (ages 3 to 6, large font) and Illustrated Adventure (medium font).

Pages go from 12 to 24, two at a time. Each scene fills a double page, text and illustration, so 24 pages means 12 illustrated scenes. The free gift story has 12.

Micro Story, Mini Story and Illustrated Adventure book type cards, and the page count from 12 to 24
  1. The book type, by age and font size.
  2. From 12 to 24 pages.
  3. How many illustrated scenes that makes.

The illustration style

At the top are the three most chosen (3D Animation, Watercolor and Classic Tale), which are also the ones included in the free gift story. Below them is the rest, grouped by mood, up to 25 styles. Six are exclusive to the Story of the Month Club.

The style applies to the whole book: the portraits, the scenes and the cover.

Torn between two? See all 25 styles with examples before you choose.

cuentosIA illustration style picker with the three most chosen and the rest grouped by mood
  1. The chosen style, shown large.
  2. The three most chosen.
  3. The rest of the 25 styles.

Frequently asked questions

Mini Story, made for ages 3 to 6, with large font. For a baby or a toddler, Micro Story.

No: the style is chosen before anything is illustrated and applies to the whole book. To see the story in another style, you create a new one.

Yes, with the Adults type, in genres like romantic, nostalgic or humorous: for an anniversary, a milestone birthday or a retirement. To turn real memories into a book, choose a memoir.

More about this

Now you know how. Time for yours

All three modes cost the same: one story. If you get stuck on a step, this guide is still here.

Create my storyBack to the guide